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–The keeping of daily records of temperatures or of atmospheric pressure is not R&D but the operation of a weather forecasting service or general data collection. The investigation of new methods of measuring temperature is R&D, as are the study and development of new systems and techniques for interpreting the data.

–R&D activities in the mechanical engineering industry often have a close connection with design and drawing work. In small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in this industry, there is usually no special R&D department, and R&D problems are mostly dealt with under the general heading “design and drawing”. If calculations, designs, working drawings and operating instructions are made for the setting up and operating of pilot plants and prototypes, they should be included in R&D. If they are carried out for the preparation, execution and maintenance of production standardisation (e.g. jigs, machine tools) or to promote the sale of products (e.g. offers, leaflets, catalogues of spare parts), they should be excluded from R&D.

2.3.2. Problems at the borderline between R&D and education and training

General approach

86.In institutions of higher education, research and teaching are always very closely linked, as most academic staff do both, and many buildings, as well as much equipment, serve both purposes.

87.Because the results of research feed into teaching, and because information and experience gained in teaching can often result in an input to research, it is difficult to define where the education and training activities of higher education staff and their students end and R&D activities begin, and vice versa. Its elements of novelty distinguish R&D from routine teaching and other work-related activities. Deciding whether or not to consider as R&D those scientific activities that are the by-products of educational or training activities does present a problem.

88.It exists for a number of the following cases:

–Postgraduate students at the PhD level and their activities.

–Supervision of students by university staff.

–Specialised health care.

–Personal education of academic staff (own reading).

Postgraduate students at the PhD level

89. In some OECD countries, the “postgraduate student” is not a standard national category. In such cases, the R&D activity of such persons is probably included with that of other part-time teaching staff.

2BASIC DEFINITIONS AND CONVENTIONS

90.However, in countries where such students constitute a recognised category, the borderline between their R&D and their education and training is particularly hard to establish. The activities of both the postgraduate students themselves and of their teachers need to be taken into consideration.

91.Parts of the curricula for studies at ISCED level 6 are highly structured, involving, for instance, study schemes, set courses, compulsory laboratory work, etc. Here, the teacher transmits knowledge and trains in research methods. Students who fall under this heading typically attend compulsory courses, study the literature on the subject, learn research methodology, etc. These activities do not fulfil the criterion of novelty specified in the definition of R&D.

92.In addition, in order to obtain a final qualification at ISCED level 6, students are also expected to prove their competence by undertaking relatively independent study usually containing the elements of novelty required for R&D projects and presenting their results. These activities should, therefore, be attributed to R&D, and any supervision by the teacher should be as well. In addition to R&D performed within the framework of courses of postgraduate education, it is possible for both teachers and students to be engaged in other R&D projects.

93.In addition, students at this level are often attached to or directly employed by the establishment in which they study and have contracts or similar engagements which oblige them to teach at lower levels or to perform other activities, such as specialised medical care, while allowing them to continue their studies and to do research.

94.Borderlines between R&D and education at ISCED level 6 are illustrated in Table 2.2 which, together with much of the above text, is based on the relevant Nordic Manual, R&D Statistics in the Higher Education Sector: Work on Improved Guidelines (Nordforsk, 1986). The more practical problems of applying these concepts are dealt with in Chapter 5 (see Section 5.2.5).

Supervision of students

95.Closely allied to the problem of identifying the R&D element of postgraduate students’ work is that of extracting the R&D component of the time spent by academic supervisors on supervising these students and their research projects.

96.Such supervision activities should be included in R&D only if they are equivalent to the direction and management of a specific R&D project containing a sufficient element of novelty and having as its object to produce new knowledge. In such cases, both the academic staff member’s supervision and the student’s work should be included as R&D. If the supervision merely deals with the teaching of R&D methods and the reading and correction of

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Table 2.2. Borderline between R&D and education and training at ISCED level 6

3.Supervision of R&D projects required for student qualification at level 6.

4.Supervision of other R&D projects and performance of own R&D projects.

5. Teaching at levels lower than level 6.

6. Other activities.

2.Performing and writing up independent studies (R&D projects) required for formal qualification.

3. Any other R&D activities. 4. Teaching at levels lower

than level 6.

5. Other activities.

Source: OECD.

theses and dissertations or the work of undergraduate students, it should be excluded from R&D.

Specialised health care

97. In university hospitals where the training of medical students is an important activity in addition to the primary activity of health care, the activities of teaching, R&D and advanced as well as routine medical care are frequently closely linked. “Specialised health care” is an activity that is normally to be excluded from R&D (see Section 2.2.2). However, there may be an element of R&D in what is usually called specialised health care, when carried out, for example, in university hospitals. It is difficult for university doctors and their assistants to evaluate the part of their overall activities that is exclusively R&D. If, however, time and money spent on routine medical care are included in the R&D statistics, R&D resources in the medical sciences will be overestimated.